1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a transfer element for sandblast carving.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In sandblast carving, a sheet material capable of becoming a resist stencil such as rubber sheet is affixed to the surface of an article to be carved such as glass, stone, plastics, ceramic ware, metal and wood and a design or pattern is manually cut out with a carving chisel from the sheet material or a resist stencil having a stenciled design or pattern to be carved is affixed to the surface of an article to be carved. Then a jet of hard particles such as carborundum, corundum, siliceous sand and glass beads is directed against the face of the article to be carved, resulting an intaglio image in the article corresponding to the original pattern. However, a great deal of skill and time is required for manually reproducing intricate designs. In order to improve such a problem, there has been proposed a method of forming a resist stencil having a stenciled design on an article to be carved which comprises forming a photosensitive resin layer on the surface of an article to be carved, exposing the photosensitive resin layer to actinic light through an image-beariing transparency such as a positive film and removing unexposed portions of the photosensitive resin layer (see Japanese Patent Publication No. 35681/1971). According to this method, it is necessary that a photosensitive resin composition is directly coated on the surface of an article to be carved and then an image-forming exposure to actinic light is conducted. However, such procedures as coating of the photosensitive resin composition, exposure to actinic light and removal of unexposed portions of the photosensitive resin layer are complicated and take time especially with a large article to be carved. In some cases, the solvent or solution which is used as a washing solution for removing unexposed portions of the photosensitive resin layer usually contacts the article to be carved directly and, as a result, damages or spoils the surface of the article. On the other hand, a photosensitive resin layer is formed on a substrate and the photosensitive resin layer is exposed to actinic light through an image-bearing transparency and unexposed portions of the photosensitive resin layer are removed and then the substrate is stripped to form a resist having a stenciled design. But it is difficult to form a resist having a stenciled design of independent letters and patterns.
It is an object of this invention to provide a resist having a stenciled design for sandblast carving which avoids the above described difficulties.